A mom's intuition helped reveal abuse on Newburgh school bus

GOSHEN — There are more questions than answers following revelations that a small group of 7-to-10-year-old Newburgh elementary school boys engaged in sex acts in the back of their school bus.

BY HEATHER YAKIN

GOSHEN — There are more questions than answers following revelations that a small group of 7-to-10-year-old Newburgh elementary school boys engaged in sex acts in the back of their school bus.

The events on the bus, which lawyers and police say continued for at least two months in the spring, only came to light when one of the boys' mothers started to suspect he had been bullied.

Her complaint to the Newburgh School District led it to check footage from the digital security cameras on the West Point Tours bus that took the boys to and from school.

Security cameras are not required on New York school buses, but Newburgh is among the districts that choose to have them on all buses.

Dr. Kristin Kenefick, a licensed clinical psychologist and an associate professor at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, said it's not surprising the boys didn't come forward on their own.

"It's very common for children to not disclose these kinds of situations, because often times they feel it is their fault," Kenefick said. At age 7, she said, the school bus is still novel for kids, and the younger boys may not have really understood what was happening.

"It's very rare for children who are victims to come forth immediately," she said.

According to "School Law," published jointly by the New York State School Boards Association and the New York State Bar Association, in New York, "a school district is not ordinarily liable where it hires an independent contractor to provide transportation services and a student is injured in connection therewith."

The book also notes that a district remains responsible for enforcing its code of conduct while students are on buses, whether the district or a contractor is the operator.

Peter Mannella, executive director of the New York State Association for Pupil Transport, a bus-safety advocacy group, said the first priority is to make sure children on buses in Newburgh are safe and protected. "The district and the contractor have some work to do to make sure this doesn't happen again," Mannella said.

State police and the Orange County Attorney's Office are working to determine how the bus events started and who introduced the very explicit sexual behaviors.

"It's likely that these older kids have been exposed to abuse themselves," Kenefick said. "This is not normal behavior. Most children do not engage in sexual behaviors at these ages."

There is hope the boys will recover from their trauma, Kenefick said. "The good news is that children are very resilient."

Kenefick said parents should watch for changes in a child's behavior as a sign something isn't right. Although there are no clear-cut signs a child is undergoing the kind of abuse that appears to have happened on the Newburgh bus, common effects of traumatic stress include nightmares, changes in sleep or eating habits, frequent crying.

Kenefick praised the mom who called the school for picking up on subtle signals that something was amiss with her son, and for following up on her concerns. "She did all the right things," Kenefick said. "I think she did an amazing job, listening to her gut."